Suggestion Saturday: March 1, 2014

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Here is this week’s list of blog posts, stories, photographs, and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Since I Lost My Baby via fsouth. A gripping short story about grief, death, and coming to terms with a new chapter in life. Everything else I want to say about this piece includes spoilers, so my description of it remains vague. Just trust me when I tell you it’s a must-read!

Inevitably, the person who has sought me out, says something like- “I don’t think I can ever trust my own judgement again- I didn’t see the lie, didn’t anticipate the betrayal, should have known, could have left, didn’t see who she was, what he was up to. . . .”

The usually stoic mother — whose jet-black eyes and cardboard hands carry decades of sadness — wept when she saw her child’s lifeless face, eyes open and covered in ants, resting in the orange sands of the Mauritanian desert. The master who raped Moulkheir to produce the child wanted to punish his slave. He told her she would work faster without the child on her back.

The most restless years of my childhood were spent in the suburbs. I hated relying on my parents to drive us into town to visit the library or catch a movie. What little there was to do within the geographic boundaries of our subdivision quickly became boring from overuse.

I was ecstatic when we moved to town the winter after I turned 15. At about 15,000 residents it was still achingly small for my tastes, but at least I could take a walk to rent movies, borrow library books, or buy a cookie at one of the old-fashioned bakeries in the original downtown strip. It was the faintest taste of the life in Toronto that awaited me as an adult.

This book explains how and why city life is once again becoming more popular than suburban life. We are reversing a trend that started decades ago, and I am as interested in why people flocked to the suburbs in the 1950s as I am in why they are now coming to their senses. 😛

Yes, I’m totally joking there. It’s just hard for me to see the appeal of suburban life. Rural addresses at least include ample space and a front row seat to the beauty of nature. The suburbs seem to include the worst of both worlds – you’re surrounded by people yet have little to no access to public transit, artistic festivals, or stores within walking distance.